Improvement in watch-cases



C. L. T'HIERY.- Watch Caseu No. 98,896. Patented Jap., 18, 1870.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.. f

c. L. THIERY, OE BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

IMPROVEMENT lNv WATCH-CASES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 98,896, dated January 18, 1870.

To @ZZ whoml it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES L. THIERY, of Boston, in the county of Suffolk and StateY of Massachusetts, have made an invention of certain new and useful Improvements in the Manufacture of \Vatch-Cases; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and eX- act description thereof, due reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making part of this specification, and in which- Figure l is an outer face view; Fig. 2, aperspective representation, and Fig. 3 a section, of the cover of awatch-case containing my improvements. Fig. 4 is a representation of the middle orcenter of a case. Fig. 5 is a sec-l tional view of the latter.

The invention herein described is an improved mode or process of producing certain features or portions of the cover as well as the center7 of a watch-case, and may in some respects be said to be connected with or related to the inventionformin g the subj ect-matter of Letters Patent of the United States issued to me on the 9th day of November, 1869.

The invention embodied in such Letters Pati ent was intended to embrace the general construction of a watch-case, or of component elements thereof, as composed of homogeneous pieces of metal,without the use of solder, while my present invention relates tothe production of detailed portions of such case, or its elementary constituents.

Heretofore in the construction of watchcases, or those manufactured prior to the origin of the invention shown in my patent be'- fore mentioned, it has been customary, in producing the bead7 or iinish upon the outer f' edges of the cases, to turn themin a lathe.

One portion of my present invention consists in producing the bead or other finish, by impressing it upon the cover, in the mold in which the said case is produced, and at the same time with the latter part of the operation of producing the cover, by. which means I am enabled to produce a plain bead or molding or an elaborate ornamental figure at a fraction of the expense now required to produce the former, since such ornamental design may be produced as easily and quickly as the plain head after the mold or matrix has been produced; and this invention further relates to means for producing, in an equally expeditious and economical, and, withal, perfect manner, the

pendant-lip, so called, or that portion of the cover which overlaps one side ofthe pendant or stem of the watch, such part of the cover before the origin of this invention having been accomplished by first drillingfor cutting out the metal of the cover and inserting and Soldering within the depression a piece of metal of greater thickness. My present invention is intended to include within its scope also andV .Y

by like means the formation of the thumbpiece 7 and of the hinge bearer or stay, Such parts, in the present mode of manufacture of watch-cases, being detached pieces soldered to the main parts. All or any of these last-mentioned details are obtained by changing the relative form, condition, or disposition of the metal of the cover or center at any given point,

and pressing it into the desired shape. For instance, in producing the hinge-stay, 7 so called, upon the cover and center, the metal is pressed inwardly, laterally, and thus,rby forcing toward the interior of the cover or center aportion of the metal, I retain and utilize what in other cases would be cut away or chamfered in a perfecting the hinge, thus enabling me to greatly strengthen the parts at these points without the application of an independentA piece soldered thereto, as at present.

The wholeinvention consists, briefly, in striking up or impressingfrom the bulk ofthe metal Vatch-cas'e pendants,-` so called, have heretofore been produced in several ways. That practiced in Europe has been to form its halves of thin sheet metal, and braze or solder the edges together. In America the practice has been either to cast the pendant in a solid piece of metal or to cut and turn it from a piece of wire of suiiicient size. In my present invention I produce a pendant by forming it fromsheet metal, in one homogeneous piece,

as shown in the annexed drawings in Fig. 6, which is a section of a pendant. "A pendant thus made is light, and, as it is made from scraps or refuse pieces of metal, which would otherwise be melted down, an economy is effected which is of considerable moment. The time consumed in striking up the halves and soldering them together, as in foreign-made cases, is avoided,while the turning, as well as weight of the cast-metal or solid pendant is avoided, while, in addition to these advantages, the whole labor of producing the pendant is accomplished in much less time than by any inode heretofore known.

The drawings accompanying this specification represent at a the cover of a watch, and of which b is the bead or outer finish; c, the pendantlip; d, the thumb-piece or ledge, by which, upon inserting the thumb-nail, the cover is opened; and e the hinge bearer or stay or support, such parts, as before premised, being struck up or impressed from one homogeneous piece of metal.

f represents the center of the case, and g the hinge-bearer or stay formed thereupon, the

dition necessary to fulll to accomplish this being to produce a die for each design.

Having thus described the character and purpose of my present invention, what I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is as follows:

Producing, either singly or collectively, the bead or outer finish, the pendant lip, the thumb-piece, the hinge bearer or stay, and the pendant of a watch-ease by striking up or impressing such parts from ahomogeneous piece of metal, substantially in manner and for the purpose as before explained.

C. L. THIERY.

Vi tnesses:

FRED. CURTIS, C. GRIFFITH. 

